No. 1 Hoosiers fend off Bison challenge 87-61

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP)

The Hoosiers turned the game with a 23-point second-half scoring
flurry, finally pulling away from the pesky Bison 87-61 in the
Progressive Legends Classic.

''We had some fight in us, but not enough,'' coach Saul Phillips
said. ''It's amazing to me, they just kept coming at us in waves.
Eventually, they leaned on us and a leg went out.''

They certainly tried to go toe-to-toe with the nation's best
team.

By contesting every shot the Hoosiers took, regardless of the
consequences, North Dakota State (1-1) never allowed the Hoosiers
offense to get in sync. And with some timely outside shooting, the
Bison were still within 48-38 early in the second half.

But they ran out of steam, bodies and eventually wore down.

Marshall Bjorklund, who scored 16 points, and Mike Felt, who had
11, both had to leave with leg cramps, and that left the Bison
without much chance against the Hoosiers size or depth.

''You know you're having a bad night when they both cramp up
within five minutes of each other,'' Phillips said. ''I haven't had
a player cramp up on me since I've been here and two of my best
players go down in five minutes.''

The Hoosiers took full advantage.

This was the kind of game that had given Indiana problems in
previous seasons. Fans, and perhaps Indiana's players, figured
those struggles were over since the Hoosiers (2-0) reclaimed their
spot on top of the college basketball world.

But North Dakota State proved how dangerous assumptions can
be.

And had it not been for the second-half lift from Cody Zeller,
Remy Abell and Jeremy Hollowell who knows how this game may have
gone.

Coach Tom Crean certainly wasn't happy.

''Your fundamentals, your technique, all your experiences, all
those things are really, really important, but there's nothing
bigger than energy and toughness. It's got to be there
constantly,'' Crean said. ''Once we got that figured out tonight
and we had some guys that figured it out from the beginning, but we
didn't have a team of guys that figured it out from the beginning,
and once we did, I thought we played pretty well.''

When the Hoosiers couldn't get their up-tempo, inside-out game
in sync, the offense sank. The grind-it-out style made Indiana look
like, well, ordinary.

Their outside shooters were just 4 of 11 from the 3-point arc in
the first half and 1 of 2 in the second half. The energy that
persisted throughout Friday night's season-opening rout over Bryant
was missing, too.

Crean was flummoxed.

''There's conventional, there's unconventional and then there's
tonight,'' he said. ''We need to do the same thing next Monday and
Tuesday. We've got to do the same thing against Ball State and
North Carolina. It makes no difference.''

Crean learned that lesson the hard way against the same North
Dakota State program six years ago. Back then, the Bison rolled
into Milwaukee, upset No. 8 Marquette 64-60 and returned home with
the Golden Eagles' tourney trophy. They haven't beaten a Top 25
team since.

So before Monday night's game, Crean warned his players not to
overlook the Bison. It didn't exactly reverberate until halftime
when they were holding a 42-29 lead.

''We're going to see everything from different teams this
year,'' Zeller said after scoring 22 points and grabbing nine
rebounds. ''I know they're going to try different strategies, that
they're going to try to outphysical me, outphysical some of our
other guys, try to get us in foul trouble, so you've just got to
keep your composure and keep on working.''

And it was the young guys who responded.

Abell, a sophomore, made all five of his shots including three
3-pointers to finish with a career-high 14 points. Hollowell, a
freshman, scored 14 points in 19 minutes, and freshman point guard
Yogi Ferrell was a defensive beast.

Yet, with 15:55 to play, the Bison were still within 48-38.

That's when the Hoosiers turned the game.

Hollowell started the key run with a three-point play and two
free throws. Abell followed that with another free throw and a
layup and Zeller had added consecutive dunks.

Will Sheehey then hit a 3, Abell made two more 3s and closed out
the run with a putback to give Indiana a 71-51 lead. That was all
the Hoosiers needed Monday.

''If we're going to be successful, we've got to have a group of
guys where there's very little drop off when we got to the bench,''
Crean said. ''Tonight, we just played.''

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